Trouble configuring 2003 rpc-http with separate front-end and back-end server
Hi. We want to add Exchange 2010 servers to our existing Exchange 2003 environment. Before we can do that, we are attempting to reproduce our 2003 production servers onto a test environment and introduce 2010 there first to make sure we can simulate the situation. Here's what we accomplished so far: Built test DC (W2003 STD w/ SP2); built 1st Exchange 2003 server (W2003 ENT w/ SP2 and EXCH2003 ENT w/ SP2); and built 2nd Exchange 2003 server (W200 STD w/ SP2 and EXCH2003 STD w/ SP2). With this configuration: we are able to connect to the 1st Exchange server's OWA via http://192.168.21.43/exchange; and we are able to connect to the 2nd Exchange server's OWA via http://192.168.21.4/exchange. HOWEVER, when connecting to the 2nd Exchange server's OWA, it prompts us to enter our credentials a 2nd time (rejecting the 1st attemt) and it changes the login "target/destination" to the 1st Exchange server's name (i.e. login to MAILBACK.TESTDOMAIN.COM). Here's where we are having issues: We went to make the 2nd Exchange server our "front-end server", so we made sure RPC-HTTP Proxy is installed/enabled in Windows components, then in Exchange Manager, we checked "front-end server" and also enabled "RPC-HTTP front-end server", and restarted the server. Next, we went to the 2nd Exchange server and within Exchange Manager enabled "RPC-HTTP back-end server", and restarted the server. We also installed a trial SSL cert on our front end server which would be the 2nd Exchange server, and we also installed the local SSL cert on IE of that server which we will test functionality from. In this configuration, I can login to the 1st Exchange like before using http://192.168.21.43/exchange. HOWEVER, when we try to login to the 2nd Exchange server via http://192.168.21.4/exchange like before we now get: Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage. What you can try: It appears you are connected to the Internet, but you might want to try to reconnect to the Internet. Retype the address. Go back to the previous page. Most likely causes: You are not connected to the Internet. The website is encountering problems. There might be a typing error in the address. More information This problem can be caused by a variety of issues, including: Internet connectivity has been lost. The website is temporarily unavailable. The DNS is not reachable. The DNS does not have a listing for the website's domain. If this is an HTTPS address, click tools, click Internet Options, click Advanced, and check to be sure the SSL and TLS protocols are enabled under the security section. ~m
June 30th, 2011 12:15am

Why are you using IP addresses? Name resolution must work on these servers for a front-end-back-end relationship to work.Ed Crowley MVP "There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems."
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June 30th, 2011 1:13am

During my testing, I prefer IP addressing, but to answer your question, name resolution yields the same result, so that is not the issue. ~m
June 30th, 2011 1:37am

Two things to begin with. 1. It could be a bad SSL certificate. 2. Could be a patch mismatch, where the backend server has higher patch levels than the frontend. Simon.Simon Butler, Exchange MVP Blog | Exchange Resources | In the UK? Hire Me.
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June 30th, 2011 1:48am

Patches match. not sure about a bad SSL, because I am trying to connect to the just the default website which is the Under Contruction and it says Service Unavailable. I check that WWW services are started. I will uninstall Exchange from this server, and also remove WWW services and re-install. Make sure the default website comes up, then re-install Exchange and see where it goes from there.
June 30th, 2011 9:00pm

FYI - Attempt at uninstalling 2nd Exchange server "killed" the server. So, I just started fresh, then noticed that Exchange 2003 STD edition along with having a back end that is 2003 ENT has issues. Now, rebuilding 2nd Exchange server to be the same version as the 1st: Exchange 2003 ENT. I feel pretty confident that this will fix the issues that I've been faced with. ~m
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July 1st, 2011 3:24am

This is to confirm that installing Exchange 2003 ENT on both servers allowed me to fully configure my test environment so that I can have a separate front end and back end server plus enable RPC-HTTP topology. Thanks all, now on to installing Exchange 2010 to co-exist with 2003, then to eventually move completely to a 2010 environment. Thanks again! ~m
July 1st, 2011 7:34am

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